As the race entered lap 56, the safety car was deployed.
Qin Miao and Verstappen immediately entered the pit lane to change to new soft tires.
As for what Zhou Haoran mentioned, about the safety car leading the drivers through the pit lane...
The teams anticipated this situation, but there was the issue that the safety car would bunch up the drivers.
If Qin Miao followed the safety car for another lap, waiting for the safety car to lead the drivers around the track once before passing through the pit lane while Matthew removed Bottas' car, the cars would be bunched up together.
Under these circumstances, if Qin Miao pitted to change tires, he could lose more than one or two positions, and might even get a penalty for unsafe release.
A five-second penalty would be considered light.
Moreover, without a slow car between Qin Miao and Verstappen to buffer, it was impossible for Qin Miao to wait until then to pit for tires.
